U of W Workers Unionize with Public Service Alliance

Nearly 400 academic workers at the University of Winnipeg have joined the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

The alliance has been campaigning for several months to earn card signatures and say employees will benefit from improved working conditions and free collective bargaining.

Teaching assistants, tutors, lab demonstrators and markers voted 89 percent in favour of joining PSAC after an application was filed with the Manitoba Labour Board on April 6.

“It became obvious during the campaign that academic workers are underdogs at U of W and unionization will give them a voice,” said Prairie Region Organizer Veronique Allard. “Their work is important and should be valued more.”

PSAC represents nearly 30,000 academic workers in more than 15 different Canadian post-secondary institutions, most of them in Quebec, Ontario and the Atlantic.